Dutch Street Chips with Peanut Sauce

Serves 4 as a snack

When I lived in Amsterdam, a late night always concluded with a pit stop at one of the city’s many french fry stalls for a paper cone of ‘Vlaamse Frites’. On Fridays and Saturdays these places thronged with late night revellers, tourists and neighbourhood locals calling in for a cone of fat chips covered in their favourite ‘saus’.

A good fry stall would offer an extensive variety of sauces and while many people would stick to their favourite, some people would go for 2 or even three sauces, piling up their fries with unimaginable combinations of chili sauce, mayonnaise, curry and ranch dressing.

One of my favourite ways to eat fries in Amsterdam is covered in ‘satesaus’: a spicy peanut sauce that the Dutch have adopted from their colonial ties with Indonesia. Poured over fat, double-fried chips with a spoonful of finely-chopped raw onion on top, this is street-food taken to the level of art and will settle any stomach filled with too much beer.

Peanut Sauce

200 grams unsalted peanuts
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 Asian shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
4 red chilies, seeded and finely minced
a one inch chunk of ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 tsp shrimp paste
2 tbsp palm or jaggery sugar, finely grated
600 mls coconut milk
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp soy sauce or kecap manis
2 tsp Chinese chili paste

Chips

2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into fries about 1/2 inch wide
vegetable oil for deep frying
sea salt
finely chopped raw onion (optional) 

Instructions

Begin by making the peanut sauce. Place the peanuts in a dry frying pan over medium heat and toast, stirring the peanuts frequently for 6-8 minutes until they are golden. Place the peanuts in a mortar and pestle or a food processor and process until finely ground.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan on medium high heat. Add the shallots, garlic and chilies and sauté for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the peanuts, ginger, shrimp paste and palm sugar and cook stirring frequently until all the palm sugar has dissolved and the peanuts have darkened slightly and are starting to turn oily.

Add the coconut milk, lime juice, soy sauce or kecap manis and chili paste and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until thickened and switch off the heat. Leave to cool slightly.

Meanwhile make the fries by placing the cut potatoes in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave the potatoes to soak for 15 minutes, then drain and rinse several times to remove all excess starch. Dry the potatoes with kitchen roll or in a salad spinner until they are completely dry.

Heat the vegetable oil to 165C in a deep pot or wok. Deep fry the potatoes in small batches for 2 1/2 minutes, then remove and drain on a rack lined with kitchen roll.

Increase the heat of the oil to 190C and fry the potatoes a second time in batches for a further 4-7 minutes or until crisp and golden. Drain the potatoes on clean kitchen roll, then divide the fries between wide, shallow bowls and sprinkle with sea salt. Alternatively, if you have a stapler, roll 2 sheets of printer paper into a cone shape and staple them to hold their shape. Make as many cones as you need and fill them with the fries and sprinkle with salt.

Drizzle the peanut sauce generously over the fries and scatter over a little of the raw onion if using. Eat immediately with your fingers, licking off the sauce and spilling a little down your shirt as you eat. Using a fork to eat these really is missing the point.

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Jennifer Klinec from Eat Drink Talk has kindly agreed to provide Urban Junkies readers with mouthwatering recipes and foodtips.

To learn more, classes at Eat Drink Talk are held in Jennifer's beautiful loft in Clerkenwell, packed with information and useful tips, and you'll get to sample all of the delicious dishes prepared during class.

 

by JK

In collaboration with Eat Drink Talk

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.